It has been a while since I last kept fish...

[Waxmaster]

so I am seeking some advice in regards to a 55 gallon tank that I am currently cycling with 6 giant danios. I used to be really into fish keeping, but moved overseas roughly 7 years ago & had to sell off/give away all my stock & equipment. Now I have returned to the states & would like to get back into the hobby, as much for myself as for my little girl, who seems to enjoy watching & learning about fish as much as I always have.

Basically, I'm just looking for reasonably priced, reasonably easy to find fish that are hardy, attractive, compatable & won't outgrow this tank (I kept red pacus & niger catfish long ago, so I have experience with up-sizing tanks, & I don't want to try to convince my wife that we need a 300 gallon set-up anytime soon, as much as I miss my old one).

Here is what I am thinking about stocking in addition to the afore mentioned 6 giant danios: 1 firemouth (I used to breed these, but I don't want to start down the multiple tank path again at present), 1 feather-finned synodontis (I've never kept these before, but I've always liked how they look; what I have read about them seems encouraging; nonetheless I'd appreciate any firsthand info on them) & maybe 1 Blue Acara or 1 Festivum or 1 Rainbow Cichlid or 1 Macaw Cichlid (this is where I need the most help in making a choice & I am open to other suggestions as well).

Thanks in advance for your time & trouble

 

[tyl089]

sorry, don't know anything about macaw cichlids, but I would keep the rainbow w/the firemouth, and danios and syndontis.

then, instead of the other cichlids, I'll get a couple of senegal bichirs. The festivum sounds too fragile, and the acara need a lot of space.

that's my 2c.

 

[NCStateFisher]

syndontis cats will sometimes suck the slime coat off of bichirs somewhat how plecos will if i remember correctly.

Personally for your main cichlid I'd just go with a basic turquoise severum, or if you can get ahold of one a rokteil severum. Festivum would be my top choice out of the ones you listed however

 

[Waxmaster]

I have now added the Synodontis to the tank & I have put in a Festivum order (with no obligation to buy) through my LFS. The Festivums should get there by the 26th & then depending on how they look & what else I hear from people on here before then, I may pick 1 or more up.

If I go the Festivum route does that rule out getting a Firemouth; IME they are more show than go, but would 1 stress out a Festivum too much with all of its puffing up displays?

My hope is that because Firemouths tend to be bottom-middle/cave oriented & Festivums more middle-top/plant oriented that they will mostly stay out of each others' ways. In any case the Firemouth would be one of the last additions to the tank if it gets added at all.

Right now I'm thinking that I might try something like this:
0-6 Giant Danios (6 are already in the tank, but they could be traded in if need be)
1 Feather-finned Synodontis (recently added)
1 or more Festivums (added in about 1.5 weeks; I don't really want a pair to form, but I have heard that these do better in groups than individually, but this is another area that I would like to get feedback on)
1 Blue Acara (added in 3-4 weeks)
1 Firemouth (added in 3-4 weeks)

How would this look in terms of compatability & long-term space availability in a 4' long, 55 gallon tank with a good mix of caves & artificial plants?

 

[tyl089]

if you already added the festivum, then I say make it so it outnumbers the firemouth.

so if you have one firemouth, then get three festivums and try to get either all females or all males so you don't have a breeding problem.

 

[Waxmaster]

Yesterday I added a 1.5" Festivum & a 2.5" Blue Acara to the tank, to go along with the 6 Giant Danios & the 2" Feather-Finned Synodontis that were already there.

So far the Festivum & the Blue Acara spend most of the time hiding in plants & caves, not unlike the synodontis. In any case I haven't seen much aggression from either.

I figure that I'll wait a couple of weeks to either add a comparably sized Firemouth or another Festivum, depending on how things go from here.

 

[josh75]

I would add the firemouth to and that would be probably all i would put into it

 

[Allan01230]

That setup sounds fine. The blue acara willl become more out going as he gets older. Make a nice cave for your cat either with bogwood or pvc he will really appreciate it. I would take out the danios and put in a school of silver dollars because I like them but that is just me. You could even keep them in but do your weekly 30% water changes. Welcome back into this cool hobby. Been doing this for 40 years and love it to death. LOL

 

[Waxmaster]

I 1st noticed a few white spots on the Acara's tail about 2 days ago; I'm assuming that it brought the plague to my tank, as it was the most recent arrival & the 1st fish to develop spots.

I decided to treat the whole tank by jacking up the temperature to 86 F & adding 11 tablespoons of aquarium salt (1 per 5 gallons of water).

This method has worked well for me in the past with various cichlids & characins, but I'm not sure how well this will work for the Danios (being a somewhat cooler water species) or the Synodontis (IME catfish species don't recover from Ich easily).

Today I did a 20% water change & adjusted salt levels as needed.

The Acara has lots of spots, but is still active & alert. The Danios & the Festivum appear to be spot-free thus far. The Synodontis is starting to look fairly rough.

Any advice is welcome.

 

[tyl089]

just what you doing right now w/the high temps, and salt. I also used "Rid Ich" in the past with very good results but then, I didn't have the syndontis cat fish that may have sensitive skin.

I think you need to quarantine in the future, or raise the temp of your main tanks a few degrees before you put in new fish.